Narcolepsy with long sleep time: a specific entity?

C. Vernet and I. Arnulf

Objective :

The classical narcolepsy patient typically reports intense feelings of sleepiness (with/out cataplexy), normal or disrupted night-time sleep, and often takes short and restorative naps. However, with long-term monitoring, we identified some narcoleptics resembling patients with idiopathic hypersomnia. To isolate and describe a new subtype of narcolepsy with long sleep time (total sleep time greater than 660 min).

Interventions :

Conclusion

18 % of narcoleptics have a long sleep time They combine the symptoms of both narcolepsy (severe sleepiness) and idiopathic hypersomnia (long sleep time and unrefreshing naps). They may have multiple arousal system dysfunctions.